Charter's Rutledge Meets With FCC's Wheeler

With the Charter/Time Warner Cable merger ticking well past its late March informal 180-day deadline for a decision (it is in day 198), and past when many had expected the deal to be approved with conditions, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler last week to talk up the deal.

Also in the April 6 meeting was FCC general counsel John Sallet, according to an ex parte filing from the commission.

Rutledge talked of the benefits of the deal in terms of expanding broadband, Charter's commitment to no usage-based pricing and to settlement-free interconnections. Those are all thought to be key conditions on the merger.